Wednesday, April 06, 2011

Guess Who Dunnit? Part 4

David Roach shares one last batch of paperback covers by unknown illustrators.

I’ve just retrieved a few choice items from my studio so here are the last few items- as if you didn’t have enough already.

These two are a little different because they’re signed, but they still seem to ask a few questions. Wildfire Encounter has what looks like a backwards signature (clearly the image was flipped for publication) and I don’t know if it’s my imagination but it looks like "Bowler" to me - Joe Bowler! Could Bowler have gone into Romance covers? I’m not entirely convinced it looks like his style... but the '60s was a decade of constant stylistic experimentation so I guess it could be him.

Corridor Of Whispers would seem to signed "Schridde' - which would be Charles Schridde of the famous Motorola ads series (though clearly he’s wandering into different territory here). There’s no mention on any websites I’ve seen of Schridde painting book covers but as a jobbing artist back then I guess you would take on whatever raised its head. The book dates from 1965 which would make it one of the first examples of the genre.

Yet more Romances - in case you hadn’t had enough.

Pacific Pretence is one of my favourites with a surprisingly undemonstrative tryst which might be the work of the UK’s Cecil Vieweg or, perhaps more likely, from an American artist. The draughtsmanship here is of the very highest quality.

The Romance of Emva has a nicely loose, breezy style which is in marked contrast to the more polished, florid paintings from the likes of Elaine Duillo or Pino Daeni which came to dominate the genre. It is helpfully signed but I can’t make it out unfortunately.

The last two - honestly.

A couple of late '50s covers here which could be from Italian, Spanish or American artists, I honestly can’t tell.

Moonlight Magic is particularly nice with a degree of polish that you don’t usually see in the cheaper end of the market.

That’s the lot of my most pressing queries! I wonder how many will be identified, plus, more than that, I wonder how many will be identified by the artists themselves of their families- now there’s a thought!

6 comments:

I worked pretty close with Charlie Schridde for a number of years and I know that he didn't do any paperback book covers. In fact, around 1964 he quit doing illustration and decided to become a photographer and was quite successful in that area. This is interesting work that you're posting.Harry